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ACT has announced June cancellations, along with coronavirus safety precautions and social distancing guidelines for test centers where June and July exams are still on. If you’ve been targeting the June or July administrations, here’s how you may be affected.
June cancellations
On Friday, ACT emailed all students in the U.S. who were registered for the June exam with updates on test center availability. As we predicted, many test centers—57 pages’ worth—have cancelled the June 13 administration. Although ACT has not provided a similar list of international test center closures, international students should also expect to be notified of any cancellations by email.
- Currently, only 33% of test centers in the U.S. are estimated to be open for the June 13 administration.
- New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wisconsin are among the states estimated to have less than 10% of their June test centers open. (No test sites in Massachusetts will be open.)
Some test centers are moving forward with the June exam but may have had to reduce their capacity due to social distancing guidelines, thus displacing some students. In those cases, ACT prioritized 12th-grade students and 11th-grade students and also looked at the order in which students registered for the exam.
Next steps:
- Students unable to test in June should register ASAP for July, if they haven’t already.
- We recommend sticking with your current study plan for the next several weeks leading up to the July exam. For most students, this means 4-5 hours of prep per week, a mix of practice exams, tutoring, and independent study.
- Note: In April, ACT had mentioned that additional test dates on June 20 and July 25 may be available, pending public health guidelines. We're still awaiting further information about those additional dates. Currently, ACT's website identifies the next testing date as July 18.
- Even if your test center is currently planning to administer the June 13 exam, it’s still a good idea to keep an eye out for last-minute changes. A pop-up notification on ACT’s website warns, “As ACT and other agencies navigate ongoing developments, testing at any test center is subject to change at any time between now and June 13, 2020.”
COVID-19 safety precautions and social distancing guidelines for June & July exams
For test centers moving forward with June and July exams, ACT has outlined some coronavirus-related safety requirements and recommendations. Here's what students can expect on test day.
Test center requirements and recommendations
At a minimum, test centers are required to be disinfected prior to testing and must make hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes available on test day. ACT’s guidelines also recommend the following:
- Helping students maintain six-feet distances at key locations (such as check-in) by placing signs on the floor
- Speeding up the check-in process and preventing crowding by offering multiple check-in stations
- Asking “health and wellness questions” to testing staff and test-takers on test day
- Requiring staff to wear gloves and masks on test day (although these will not be provided by ACT)
Student requirements and recommendations
Even though ACT is not providing masks or gloves to staff or test-takers, students are encouraged to bring their own masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer, all of which may be subject to inspection.
At check-in, students will be asked to temporarily remove their masks for facial identification. Students will also answer a series of health and wellness questions as part of the check-in process. If a student answers “yes” to any of the following, they won’t be permitted to sit for the exam:
- Have you tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
- Have you had any of these symptoms in the last 14 days?
- Fever greater than 100 degrees
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Cough
- Chills
- Muscle pain
- Sore throat
- New loss of taste or smell
- Are you experiencing fever, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, a cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell at this time?
- Have you been in close contact with someone displaying these known symptoms of COVID-19?
- Have you been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 or who has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
- Have you traveled outside the country or to any high-risk locations in the last 14 days or been in close contact with someone who traveled to high-risk locations in the past 14 days?
For more details, check out ACT’s FAQs here.
Need more individualized advice?
The recommendations above are general suggestions. If you have specific questions, reach out to our experts here. We’re happy to help in any way we can.
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